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ROH Supercard of Honor
Dallas, Texas
Report by Dot Net Reader Jonny “Mad Dog”
The crowd for the evening show was energetic consistently throughout the entire night and without nourishment, found it tedious to keep up with them, but I managed, and even gained confidence with creating some unique chants and calls and reverberating others that needed steam, as well as having a nice couple conversations with fellow fans about GFW (Global Force Wrestling) and wishing them the ability to get off the ground and wondering if WrestleMania (with its lackluster build and mediocre card) could beat the greatness of this Supercard X (Night One) show, because it was that “awesome” (a word used frequently throughout the show, almost in every match at least once).
Pre-Show: The first match was an introductory-style match featuring the up-and-coming talent, or ROH “Youngboys” in P and “Bruno Mars” (as the crowd and I dubbed him) vs. Taylor and Limitless (winners) was much better than I thought any opening (and presumably “dark”) match would’ve been, with the latter team picking up the “W” and much fan reaction with the prior playing with comedy spots and the latter with a power set of moves.
1. Bobby Fish beat Christopher Daniels. This was a nice technical match I, and those who share my taste for long, sport-like, technical showcases, could “sink our teeth into”.
2. Roderick Strong defeated Moose. Both men had the crowd exercise their proficiency of dueling chants, in a “mixed bag” of a match with plenty of striking, grappling, stiff power moves, and outside-the-ring action.
3. Dalton Castle beat Donovan Dijak (w/Prince Nana), Cheeseburger, Adam Page, J Diesel (w/Taeler Hendrix), and Frankie Kazarian in a six-man mayhem match. BJ Whitmer chose to sit this one out after not being able to get a full sentence in with the crowd in full-on anti-Whitmer chants throughout his promo. I wonder who would get more and louder jeers between him, and a certain developmental female with red-dyed hair, and a Samoan undeserving of his spot elsewhere in the world? This was another great match (they were all great in their own way really) with the crowd enhancing everything. The DFW metroplex is a great wrestling area, but we just need more of an indy/developmental presence, which are all out elsewhere, unfortunately, then I could get in on this and help contribute and even “save” this sport I love…yes I put “sport”. The match was fun and spot-filled, yet told a nice story with The Decade/House of Truth power struggles and roster shuffles along with the overtly-“over” Dalton Castle and Cheeseburger being capable of comedy even when serious, and vice versa as well as the breakout potential of Dijak and to lesser extents, at least evident from this match alone, Page and Diesel and a Kazarian who’s just along for the ride.
4. Kyle O’Reilly beat Matt Sydal. Another ground-and-pound mosh pit, a little less technical than previous matches, however it still featured some nice grappling, with the focus on Sydal’s “educated feet” going up against O’Reilly’s chops, with both men rarely leaving their feet for the turnbuckles. Both men were evenly over with the crowd, perhaps with a slight edge to O’Reilly, the more accomplished one, at least in recent memory.
I felt the timing of this intermission could have been better. The crowd was hot from start to intermission and to finish but were on the brink of being burnt out for Sydal vs. O’Reilly and I felt they could have gotten slightly better reactions (not that they didn’t by any means) if the Women of Honor match was placed before them, or perhaps going before the multi-man match, and letting that take the buffer slot, but I digress. Several fans left for the NXT: Takeover: Dallas show as expected, but even though as of this writing I have not yet seen the show, and don’t like making predispositions, it is something we all make at one time or another, but I feel that show, of course with its guidelines in place, cannot touch what went on with this Supercard show.
5. Adam Cole beat ACH. This was in contention for match of the night, along with the two main events. With a combination of comedy, grappling, striking, high flying, and a rabid crowd it didn’t differ too much from the rest of the matches, as really, the whole show was stacked and delivered, as did the crowd throughout, so picking biggest pops and heat is going to be tough.
6. Mandy Leon and Solo Darling beat Amber O’Neal/Gallows and Deonna Purazzo. A nice match, if for nothing but the fact it’s been a sausage-fest all night minus a few glimpses of Taeler Hendrix throughout the show and the valets in the opening match. Credit goes out to the ability to put on more than one match in one night for the team of Leon and Darling, who worked the QOC show. It didn’t matter who won between the two teams, because we the (hetero male) fans all won in the end.
7. Jay and Mark Briscoe and War Machine beat Rhett Titus, Kenny King, Beer City Bruiser, and Silas Young. A fun match with at least one interesting call to King, which he threw right back at the fan who spit it, as well as because of the usual antics of “Dem Boys”.
8. Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix) defeated Lio Rush to the ROH Championship. This was the penultimate match for the evening. Some would argue, including myself if the mood suits me and I feel the circumstances justify it, that the world championship match should go on last, but seeing what went on after this match with the return of Colt Cabana facing off against Jay Lethal, and the majority of fans wanting to see the Young Bucks, it made sense for the train-wreck tag match to go on last. Lio Rush is a future star. He was “made” tonight, he had an awesome showing, and Lethal proves why he is if not the best in the world at professional wrestling today, he’s one of the best.
9. The Young Bucks beat The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). Dueling chants for both teams continued non-stop throughout the match. The crowd ate up the antics and athleticism of both teams’ signature spots except myself for one in particular, one where the Young Bucks mention this not being TNA or something of the like, and the crowd chanted “F— TNA”. The company is one of which I am a fan and I hope they don’t go out of business and instead of this “alternative” rhetoric the Young Bucks spewed after the match, I’d like “competition” and a new Monday Night War. TNA is the only company currently going with GFW not having a TV deal yet, Lucha Underground being a TV show, and New Japan not having much of an American presence other than year-old taped matches, that can make a run at taking on Monday Night Raw, if only they can get the money and exposure (because the talent and stories have been there at one time or another throughout their history, those won’t move the needle as much as getting on a station everyone has and not another obscure network), as SBG seems content with ROH being just a glorified regional indy. The Addiction and the Briscoes come down to ensue a brawl to end the show and set up tomorrow’s matches.
Biggest Pops: Colt Cabana/Young Bucks/Adam Cole/ACH/ReDragon/Dalton Castle/Moose/Strong/Briscoes/Taylor and Limitless/Referee Todd Sinclair
Most Heat: BJ Whitmer (by far)/Non-Todd Sinclair referee/ANX/the Addiction
I can’t wait until Sunday to see if WrestleMania can beat this, as I’ll have a front row’s view of it all. Thanks for reading!
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